PREFABNZ: PROPTECH - UNLOCKING INNOVATION + CREATIVITY

‘PROPTECH’, THE TERM USED TO DESCRIBE DIGITAL INNOVATION TO ADDRESS THE NEEDS OF THE PROPERTY INDUSTRY, COULD BE THE ‘NEXT REALITY’, PROPELLED BY A COMBINATION OF URGENCY, OPPORTUNITY AND DISRUPTION.

Jason Howden, Associate Principal at Warren and Mahoney (WAM) and advanced BIM expert, recently featured on a PrefabNZ Innovation Bites webinar, which included a look at BIM Design Automation and Artificial Intelligence.

He says the ability to collaborate on real-time building models in the cloud, with all stakeholders highly engaged throughout the process is a key benefit of these innovations, enabling early contractor involvement.

“You end up with this single source of truth that all information is generated from,” says Howden. “Merging that information may have greater detail depending on how it’s viewed, whether it’s construction detail or model elements. And then in terms of pulling that all together and running that through to completion and into operations, I think this is where the world really starts to transform and kick into a new paradigm.”

“You end up with this single source of truth that all information is generated from. Merging that information may have greater detail depending on how it’s viewed, whether it’s construction detail or model elements. And then in terms of pulling that all together and running that through to completion and into operations, I think this is where the world really starts to transform and kick into a new paradigm.”

Jason Howden, Associate Principal, Warren and Mahoney (WAM).

“Virtual rooms, where you can walk around and explore the space and transport people to new worlds to explore, offer an indispensible tool,” he says. “Augmented Reality is also gaining momentum, particularly onsite, where contractors are increasingly starting to see the benefits of its ability to overlay real world inputs. This is really opening up doorways to allow people to have an instruction manual for how they’re constructing something or how the design needs to come together in real time in front of them at site. So instead of having 2,500 pages of drawings, you can take the details on your mobile phone, iPad or hololens.”

There are also opportunities to improve the way manufacturing in the built environment works. “I think what’s interesting about this line of research is how fast it is evolving in some markets to mitigate challenges around meeting demand within increasingly shorter timeframes. For example in the UAE it has been mandated that 25% of all residential construction are 3D printed by 2035. It may be possible that in 10 years’ time, residential construction in large volume is 3D printed. One ponders how we could possibly look to this technology to solve issues, say around KiwiBuild, and their delivery within the current framework,” says Howden.■